Star, Mediacom, O&M among winners @exchange4media Dainik Bhaskar INK Awards

The exchange4media Dainik Bhaskar INK Awards 2014 were given away to the best innovations in newspaper advertising at a glittering ceremony at ITC Grand Central, Lower Parel, Mumbai earlier tonight on May 15, 2014.

The exchange4media Dainik Bhaskar INK Awards endorse and celebrate innovation in newspaper advertising by creative agencies, media agencies, newspaper publishers, advertisers and all those who are associated with it. The Awards aim at raising the standard of crafts associated with creating the finest newspaper advertising.

Among the Excellence Awards, Star TV has been adjudged Advertiser of the Year.

Mediacom has been declared Media Agency of the Year.

Ogilvy & Mather is the Advertising Agency of the Year.

Among the other winners this year are The Times of India and Dainik Jagran, both of whom have won the Gold in the Campaign of the Year – National category.

Coca-Cola has won the Gold in the Best Contextual Newspaper Advertising – National category for its Small acts of kindness – Open Happiness campaign.

Skoda, STAR India and Hindustan Unilever share the Silver in the Best Innovation in Newspaper Advertising – National category.

The Awards were divided into two basic categories – Creative and Media Awards. The Creative Awards were given for powerful creative ideas that draw the reader’s attention and deliver the desired message in an impactful and memorable manner.

The Creative Awards included:
• Campaign of the Year
• Best Art Direction
• Best Copy writing
• Best Single Advertising-Single Ad or Campaign

The Media Awards included:
• Best Contextual Newspaper Advertising
• Best Direct Response Advertising
• Best Innovation in Newspaper Advertising
• Best Newspaper Ad for launch of a Product or Service
• Best Newspaper Ad by a large Television Spender
• Best Media Planning Strategy Incorporating Print
• Best Recruitment Ad

The Awards entries were judged by an esteemed Jury that was chaired by Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands India. The Jury members included Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors; Satyajit Sen, CEO, ZenithOptimedia; Ravi Bharadwaj, Executive Director - Marketing, Dell; Pradeep Dwivedi, Chief Corporate Sales & Marketing Officer, Dainik Bhaskar Group| DB Corp; Girish Shah, Executive Vice President - Sales and Marketing, Godrej Properties; Sandeep Sharma, President, RK Swamy Media Group; and Anand Chakravarthy, Head – West, Maxus.

The screening committee included Dinesh Garg, Senior VP, TTK Prestige; Shailendra Katyal, Director, Marketing - Consumer Business, Lenovo; Jaimit Doshi, Head - Marketing, Kotak Securities; Anupam Bansal, Executive Director, Liberty Shoes; Prabhakar Tiwari, General Manager - Marketing Ceat; Avinash Pant, Marketing Head, Nike India; and Rajesh Nambiar, VP - Marketing, ICICI Lombard.

On the occasion, Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, exchange4media Group said, “The exchange4media Dainik Bhaskar INK Awards are the ultimate honour for excellence in newspaper advertising. Bringing out creativity and innovation in print advertising is a difficult task and, therefore, these Awards salute the efforts and acknowledge the media and creative agencies.”